The Bear Who Talked: A PruCan Fairytale
by ratsister
Summary: Short Fairytale adaptation for PruCan from the original Grimm's tale, "The Bear Who Talked" A young prince travelling from afar comes upon a cave and those who dwell within: An eccentric man with a bird and a bear.


_PruCan Adaptation of the Brother's Grimm's "The Bear Who Talked" for GreyPezzola, originally posted on tumblr, but I thought, why not upload it to fanfiction? And so, here we are. _

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A young prince had traveled far from his northern home.

He had traversed the wide grey ocean, and walked across the earth of many a strange land. He seemed to travel as if invisible, able to see all that he passed, and yet unnoticed by many. One night as he traveled along the very edge of a dark forest, he saw a band of outlaws. The group of nefarious ne'r-do-wells walked toward him along the edge of the forest, and the prince knew he would have to act fast.

Being of an educated mind, the prince knew he was outnumbered and though brave, he was above all a man of caution, only resorting to violence as a last resort. With speed and his seemingly magical ability to go unnoticed, the prince ducked into the shadows of the woods.

He had avoided the highwaymen, and for this he congratulated himself, however, it did not take long in the dense mountainous forest for the young prince to realize he was hopelessly lost. After wandering and wandering through crowded trees, looking upwards through the canopy for a semblance of moonlight to guide his way, after finding that the helpful stars were shrouded by clouds, he at long last came to a cave. He passed the night there on the hard, cool surface, and when he awoke there stood next to him an ancient man with a bird and a bear. The old man seemed wizened and of a warlock sort. Though his eyes seemed very beautiful, indeed they were of a color not seen in eyes by the young prince before; eyes the color of rubies, of roses, and the deep red of dawn. The bear would not look to the young prince, and turned away often as though he could not even see him, though after staying in the cave for many days, the prince had tried to befriend the beast.

"Hello, bear." The young man had said, pushing blond waves from his face. "I'm Mathew. I come from far to the north and west – do you have a name, other than bear, that is?"

Alas, the only response he was ever given was a sigh, and a "Hmmm…who did you say?" as this bear could speak, but seemed a bit aloof and disinterested.

As for the old man, he was a strange sort himself, and the little yellow bird was always with him. The prince was a bit unsure of the strange company in which he found himself. At once, the old man would be full of energy and proclaiming himself to be the most powerful wizard, and a prince himself! At other times he turned sorrowful, though he never admitted it; his unnatural red eyes were youthful as he spoke of a younger brother for whom he worried, being so far from his castle and home. With sincerity, the old man was adamant that this was his kingdom, but when he tried to continue, no words came from his mouth. It was at these times that the ancient man seemed to shimmer for just a moment….if Prince Mathew from the far north and west had not known better, he would have sworn the ancient man had appeared young….and handsome.

But Mathew wanted to travel; he had rested in the cave for three nights, and was restless to continue his journey. Still unsure of the strange man and the bear, he was ready to set off.

The old man's crimson eyes grew first watery, and then stern. He demanded the prince stay with him. When Mathew replied that he could not, definitely not, spend his life in a foreign cave, but must continue his travel and one day return home, the old man shimmered again, but for only a heartbeat, then old and wizened again, he huffed, he fumed, and he turned his back on the prince.

"THAT'S FINE!" He yelled, "I LIKE MY PRIVACY!" Turning, his red eyes flashed as he finished in a hiss, "I don't need anyone." With that, he stomped away into the depths of the cave.

Perplexed that the old man had gotten so upset, the young prince never the less, turned and made for the cave entrance.

Before he had gotten very far, the bear stood in his way. He spoke to the prince, finally looking him in the face.

"Did you say Mathew? Or Something…well it doesn't matter. What does matter is what I have to say to you now." The prince was stunned and nodded to the bear.

"Pay close attention." The bear said, as he hypocritically began to lose interest himself, looking toward the wall.

But it wasn't disinterest, but instead with purpose that the bear looked away this time.

"Pull the rusty nail from the wall and place it beneath a turnip in the field, and in this way you shall find true love." The prince seized the nail so strongly that the cave shook and the nail cracked loudly like a clap of thunder

Mathew took the nail and went forth from the cave in haste. All princes seek true love, and few find it. Mathew had long since given up hope of finding love, as you see, he was not interested in princesses.

At long last, he came to a field of turnips and was about to place the nail beneath one of them when there appeared above him a monster, so that he dropped the nail, pricked his finger on a hedge and bled until he fell down senseless. When he awoke he saw that he was elsewhere and that he had long slumbered, for his smooth chin was now frizzy with a blond beard.

"Hmm" he felt the beard and chuckled. "So like Papa's" He stretched and upon rising set off across field and forest and searched through every turnip field but nowhere found what he was looking for. Day passed and night too, and one evening, he sat down on a ridge beneath a bush. It was a flowering blackthorn with red blossoms on one branch. He broke off the branch, and because there was before him, amongst the other things on the ground, a large, white turnip, he stuck the blackthorn branch, so like a nail, into the turnip and fell asleep.

When he awoke on the morrow, the turnip beside him looked like a large, open shell in which lay the nail, and the wall of the turnip resembled a nut-shell, whose kernel seemed to be imprinted with the shape of young man as though one had just risen from slumber. He saw there the foot, the hand, the whole body, even the fine, pale hair so delicately imprinted, just as the most handsome man would have.

The prince blushed, his heart racing for what he thought so long impossible seemed now a reality. He stood up and began his search. Mathew of the north and west searched long, he searched hard, and came at last, to his surprise, to the old cave in the forest.

No one was there.

He took out the nail and struck it into the wall of the cave, and at once the old man and the bear appeared.

"Tell me, for I know that you know," the prince, so usually calm, now accused the old man. "Where have you taken the man from the turnip?" Mathew stepped closer, "I know you took him, you old warlock! Where is he, eh?"

The old man laughed to hear this. His laughter was boisterous and echoed from the walls of the cave. "You have me, and yet you scorn me? Am I not awe-inspiring?"

The bear nodded, too, and looked for the nail in the wall. "You are awesome, to be sure," said the prince, "but strange and I shall not be an old man's fool and spend my years in this cave!"

The prince's voice dropped to a whisper. "Not when I could have true love."

"Just pull out the nail" growled the bear. The prince reached for it and pulled it half out, looked about him and saw the bear was nodding knowingly, and the eccentric old man shimmering almost as a handsome young man. Thereupon he drew out the nail entirely and flew into the wide arms of the pale handsome prince, the very same image the turnip had shown, for he had been delivered from the spell laid upon him! The nail burnt up like fire in a flash, and the two princes embraced, lips finding eachother's, and as they did so, the spell was broken for good, never to afflict the wild crimson eyed prince again.

The two then climbed atop the bear, who had at last spoken his name, and as the little bird fluttered onto Prince Mathew's shoulder whose heart was happy with the lightness of true love's touch, the newly spell-freed prince wrapped an arm around the other and together, they went forth happily ever after.

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_the end~_

_I hope that was as fun for you to read as it was for me to write! Reviews are so very welcome!_

_To readers of my other fics, the semester has been a particularly hard one, but is nearly over. I'm working hard on chapter 20 of 'It's Just Business' now and then will update many chapters of 'Potato Gnocchi' after that and then, finally update 'In the Shadows of the Black Forest' with the tales of Snow White and Sleeping Beauty in a double feature, so to speak, to make up for the months of not updating._

_Thank you to readers of these fics for your patience, and thank you to new readers for your interest in this little ditty. Maybe we'll see Canada and Prussia in more fairytales to come… _


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